CALGARY, Alberta — For a while, amid all the losses, the Rangers were hanging their hats on the fight they showed coming back from deficits and staying in every game until late.

As their tour through Western Canada came to a close Friday night, that case became harder to make.

The Rangers avoided any ejections in the second period in this one, so their struggles weren’t masked by being two men down as they had been two nights earlier in Vancouver. But for the second straight game, they took a punch and couldn’t get back up, shellacked by the Flames 5-1 at Scotiabank Saddledome.

“We cheated the game too often tonight,” head coach David Quinn said. “Very loose defensively. Didn’t want to hit anyone, didn’t want to get hit. We played very slow. They’re a fast team, give them a lot of credit, but boy, we looked as slow as we have in a long time.”

The Rangers (28-30-13) dropped to 0-2-1 on their road trip, which will end Saturday in Minnesota in the second half of a back-to-back, and they lost for the ninth time in 10 games. Only 11 games remain in a season that has turned south in a hurry.

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Quinn had pleaded before the game for more of an attacking mentality on offense, not just trying for the “pretty” goals. But instead of heeding that advice, the Rangers were shown how it’s done by the Flames. After New Jersey’s own Johnny Gaudreau had a pretty one on a breakaway in the first period, the Flames did the rest of their damage in front of the net, led by Matthew Tkachuk’s two goals and three assists.

“We do a lot of good things, but when it comes time to getting to the net and having an attack mentality offensively, we just don’t have it right now,” Quinn said before Neal Pionk scored the Rangers’ lone goal on a four-on-four slapper that tied the game 1-1 in the first period. “I thought we had it for a while, but over the last three or four games, we just haven’t had that. … Too often right now, we’re taking the path of least resistance.”

Once again, the Rangers fell apart while allowing a pair of goals in quick succession in the second period. Tkachuk scored a goal and set up another in a span of 70 seconds to put the Flames ahead for good, 3-1. He then added a second goal and assist less than five minutes apart in the third period to blow the game open.

“When you make mistakes like that right in front of your own net, when they got guys that can put it away, they usually don’t make mistakes and they didn’t,” defenseman Marc Staal said. “We just didn’t have an answer for it. It’s hard in those situations to not let it snowball.”

The Rangers didn’t give Alexandar Georgiev (27 saves) much help in front of the net, where the Flames spent most of the night. The Rangers, meanwhile, remained futile on the power play, putting just four shots on net during three separate man-advantages.

After a string of tight losses, the Rangers have entered blowout territory with back-to-back defeats by a combined score of 9-2.

“We’ve had some good nights, but playing hard isn’t enough,” Quinn said. “We didn’t play hard enough tonight, that’s for sure. We didn’t play smart enough. We’ve been a team that has played hard, but big deal. You should play hard. You’re in the National Hockey League. You’re a professional athlete. You shouldn’t get patted on the back because you played hard. It should be expected.”